Improved artificial skating-pond



UNITED STATES M. o. CAMPBELL, on PHILADELPHIA, rnivnsrnvhivik;

IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL SKATING=PONDQY 1f.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 47,391, dated April2.5, 1835.

To all whom it may concern: i

Be it known that I, M. C. CAMPBELL, of Phil adelphia, in the State ofPennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful icomposition ofmatter, which I term an Artificial Skating- Iond and I do hereby declarethat the follow ing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and the method of carrying it into effect.

It has long been a matter of regret that the healthful and pleasingexercise of skating should be restricted in temperate climates to thefew months of winter; but limited as may be the season for itsenjoyment, its intrinsic excellence has secured for it an almostuniver-' time. It is a misfortune, however, that materially interfereswith the practice requisite for proficiency in, the art, and with itsenj oyment after it has been acquired, that it is so largely dependenton the weather that even the short season of the winter months isseriously encroached upon by the thaws and rains and snow rendering theice unsafe, or its surface unfit for use. have been made to renderskating independent of ice hitherto have been unavailing, for,

however perfect a surface might beobtained with regard to smoothness,the necessity for the recourse to roller-skates interferes so much withthe freedom and celerity of motion that it has afforded but littlepleasure under the most perfect attainable conditions, and rendered it,in fact, of no use whatever to any other than learners, who have beencompelled to practice laboriously to make the slightest progress in therudiments of the art. The nicest possible adaptations of rollers orwheels admit, at the best, of but a poor counterfeit of the easy glidingmotion of polished steclwhen acting upon the smooth surface of amaterial cut sufficiently to give a firm hold in striking Thevariousattempts that PATENT,-

like ice, over which it slides without friction," and yet obtains a holdby its incision that give certainty and precision to every movement 0the skater. I y y The object of my inventionisto obtaina material likeice for skating purposes, into which the runner of an ordinary skate mayout, and over whichit will glide with as little friction as possible; toobtain, infact, a i na I terial or composition upon which the skateoperates in precisely the same manner upon ice, and yet so constitutedthat it is not subjeet to alteration by variations of temperature, andremains in as good condition when subject to the heat of an ordinarysummer day as does the ice of a skating-pond duriugthe sea-X son bestadapted for skating. Io attain this end, myinvention eonsists'incovering a smootlu ly-prepared surface-such as a well-made floorwithacoating of chemical salts or crystallizable composition of matter,in such amair nor that it will congeal into a surface with a closesimilitude to that of ice, (considered sin ply in reference to skating,)and yet differin from ice in the important feature (which co1 stitutesthe entire aim and value of my 1m tion) that it is not affected bytheunodei temp erature of the atmosphere during the sun mer months. 1 I1 I 1 To enable others skilled in the arts to which it appertains tomake and use my invention, 1 will proceed to describe in detail what Ibelieve to be the best method ofeompounding and applying the same. i Itake equal weights of carbonate of soda (the sal sodapf commerce) and ofsulphate of soda (Glaubers salt) in the proportion ofabout one pound ofeach for every square foot of the surface requiredlto betpre pared, andplace them, mixed together, in a tinned iron kettle, which should becovered and heated until its contents have become y, fluid The cover isthen removed and theheat 1 continued, while the mixture is constant] ystirred, until. ithas lost from fifteento twenty per cent. of the waterof crystallization, when it should be removed from thefire and thestirring unremitted until it becomes'cool. It is then poured or castupona section of the. floor that is to be employed as a foundation, 1and which should be divided'by strips of wood into sections of a sizeproportioned to the the entire area desired may be covered 5 and, anyinequalities at the junctions of the sections may be smoothed,with anordinary scraper, to render the whole surface smooth and uniform. If thecomposition should become deteriorated by the eftervescence of the saltsemployed, as will occasionally occur, it will be necessary to sprinkleit with water to remedy the evil; and when it hasbeen much out up theskates, the surface may also be renewed by sprinkling it with asaturated solution of the sweepings, in

water, applied with a watering-pot 'or other suitable means.

Having thus described the means and meth od which Iprefer to adopt incarrying my invention into effect, I wish it to be understood that I donot confine myself particularly to the two salts or the proportionsherein mentioned, as there may be other similar salts or compo sitionsthat congeal in the same way, and are as unaffected by a moderatetemperature, and are as suitable for skating purposes.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent 7 Thepreparation of a surface with a congealed material or composition,substantially as described, and for thepurpose specified.

M. C. CAMPBELL.

Vi tnesses:

WVM. H. BROWN, CHAS. P. LYLE.

